We're coming up on eleven months since the Colombian-Norwegian dropped & outpointed Maricela "La Diva" Cornejo for the WBC interim female super welterweight title. No date currently announced for ...anything, really. Nary a defense, a tune-up, nor a unification with Ema "The Princess" Kozin (the WBC's "full" champ at 154 has herself not fought since 2023). As great as she was in her prime, and even having kept herself in great shape, the fact of the matter is she is 43 years old. At this stage of the game you can't be fobbing off a whole year. It could be that she is waiting for a big payday. She has certainly earned it. For no less than a decade, namely the previous one (twenty-tens) in entirety, she was the undisputed women's p4p #1. There was talk at one point - at various points, actually - of her getting that big marquee showdown, with probably the biggest name in the sport right now among XX chromosome individuals (like her or not, much as in the men's ranks many of us must hold our nose and just accept Canelo's lofty position), namely Claressa Maria "T-Rex" Shields. Most likely, however, that would require Brækhus to jump up to HW as that is where Shields is presently campaigning. Brækhus simply doesn't have the clout or drawing power to make A-side demands (even though most knowledgeable observers would agree she is the far more skilled and meritorious comptetitor). I doubt Shields could be persuaded to come down to 154lb again even if she could make it - which she last did five bouts ago, in 2021. Up at heavyweight, even if both women weighed in somewhere in the high one-seventies (as in Shields' last match, basically the low end of cruiser, just above the LHW limit) I don't Brækhus' chances. Shields is at least a natural super middle, and her size advantage would more than cancel out the large gulf in skill between her and CeCe. The better woman wouldn't win, basically, and that would be a sad way for Brækhus to end her career even if did work out well for her monetarily. So what else is there? She could rematch Cornejo, but that is hardly a blockbuster. The field at super welter is otherwise kind of weak. There is somebody with name value - albeit in another sport - calling her out via social media. 39 year old Cristiane Venâncio Justino - who made a name for herself as feared KO artist "Cris Cyborg" in MMA, becoming the women's featherweight champ in four major promotions (UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce and Invicta FC) - is currently 5-0 in pro boxing and has made clear that she's making a run for a title before retiring. Her dream opponent is of course Shields, whom she has been calling out incessantly, but failing that she has made clear that her runner-up options are British welterweight Sandy Ryan and - perhaps most realistically, Ms. Brækhus, who sits atop the division in which Cyborg has been plugging away hoping to get ranked (she's currently #10 on BoxRec, yet to crack the alphabets). Withall due respect to absentee champion Ema Kozin, that is. I would love to see Brækhus vs. Venâncio, honestly. It would be a coup for boxing over the MMA fanboys, and stylistically it has all the makings of a schooling. Brækhus would break her face. Might just beat her pretty.
Cece has also been chasing Holly Rene "The Preacher's Daughter" Holm Kirkpatrick for years. (since at least 2012, and the WBC actually did order it for early 2013 when Holm was her #1 contender at 147lbs, planning to create a "Diamond Belt" for the occasion - but it never materialized as Holm ducked her to fight Mary McGee and retire from boxing to jump to MMA) Holm competes tonight, albeit down at "lightweight" (she weighed 1½lb above the limit but I'm surprised that she can even make that at 43 and having spent most of her career at welter and super welter)
